Audubon Society Promotes Deer Hunts

The Audubon Society might not be thought of as a staunch pro-hunting organization,
but the society can’t deny the necessity of deer hunting. In fact, across New Jersey
the conservation group has supported deer hunts in the face of undeniable evidence
that overpopulation of deer leads to decimated habitat.

What’s more, the New Jersey Audubon Society is actually leading an effort to get the
Morris County Park Commission and local towns governments that surround the Jockey
Hollow section of the Morristown National Historical Park to urge the National Park
Service to institute a whitetail deer hunt there.

The Aububon Society began deer hunts on its properties in 2006, Ettel told the
park commission, because assessments of the agency’s 3,700 acres of preserves showed
that deer browsing was a major factor in the creation of “skeletal forests” that have
become common in many areas of central and northern New Jersey.

The impact of deer on forests is “devastating,” he said. As a result, since 2006
Audubon has advocated for increased hunting activity on public and private land and
for the expanded harvesting of whitetail deer statewide.

While far too often non-hunters view “conservation” as being divorced from hunting,
it is encouraging to see an essentially non-hunting conservation group supporting
what hunter-conservationists have always known: Deer hunting isn’t just something
we like to do — it’s something we need to do. That is, if we take conservation seriously.